see also

The first line of US sea defense against a nuclear North Korea — as well as an important counterbalance to Chinese and Russian naval influence — would be rocked by an even larger loss of life two months later, when the USS John S. McCain crashed into a commercial vessel and 10 of its sailors died.

On Thursday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer will testify before the House Armed Services Committee on proposed sweeping changes designed to prevent similar incidents.

“I don’t think you have to be a naval expert to conclude that there’s something systemic that’s amiss,” Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), a member of the committee, told The Post.

Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, said the unprecedented congressional oversight was crucial.

“It’s human nature — if you don’t place that emphasis, they’ll say ‘Oh, it’s taken care of,’ ” Wittman said of the Navy. “It is necessary for us at the least to do this out of respect for the 17 sailors that lost their lives. The nation and their families expect no less.”

The fleet allowed readiness “standards to erode to the point that they are nearly ineffective,” the report said.

“In an environment where this ‘normalization of deviation’ has taken hold, ships and their crews perceive the [preparation] certification process as merely a burden to their success, rather than the key to achieving individual, ship and fleet readiness.”

One element of the investigations focused on the checks-and-balances system under which most of the other fleets operate: One portion of the command is responsible for assigning missions, and another position determines which vessels are ready for deployment.

But in the 7th Fleet, those decisions are made under the same umbrella. This creates a “conflict of interest” where commanders ­ignore protocols in order to ­deploy vessels more quickly, Courtney said.

Spencer’s report found that such a leadership structure, while unified under one roof, leads to an “erosion of the standards that define whether a ship is available for tasking.” His ­report called for separation in the 7th Fleet as a result.

The Navy hopes that by slowing the operational tempo of its fleets, it can get the sailors up to speed and improve safety, ­experts said.

But slowing down the system at this point is no easy task.

The Navy’s fleet of 280 ships is operating at the same level it did in the 2000s, when there were nearly 350 ships. This leaves less time for critical training and repairs, Courtney said.

The increasing workload has led to widespread reports of flagging morale.

“I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea, because then our ineffectiveness will really show,” one sailor told his superiors, according to a Navy Times report.

And that kind of fatigue is toxic, according to Courtney.

“You can’t have this chronic pattern of collisions and harm and expect people to volunteer in the long term — it’s going to be corrosive to the Navy’s brand in terms of recruitment,” Courtney said.

So the Navy is considering changing sailors’ “five-and-dime” sleep schedule — that’s 10 hours on and five hours off — to a more circadian-rhythm-friendly schedule that includes eight hours off, according to Courtney.

Machinist Mate 3rd Class ­Mason Martin, who served aboard the USS Germantown from 2012 to 2015, told The Post that during his time aboard the ship, “I felt like we didn’t have enough people.

AP

“I feel like that is a good reason why we didn’t get enough sleep.”

The Navy, pushing to improve sailors’ experiences, is even testing rose-tinted glasses to try to help them sleep better.

The lenses would be worn by the Navy workers several hours before they head to bed, while they toil their last hours at computer screens, to filter out the stimulating blue light.

“It looks like a dumb idea, like no one would do it,” Martin said. But maybe “if they were forced to use them,” they just might, he said.

The Navy may have no choice but to employ such maneuvers.

Reducing naval operations is not an option, experts said.

“With all the things happening in North Korea, ballistic-missile defense is extremely important,” Wittman noted.

But there are other issues besides an overworked naval corps.

For example, Defense Department spending has become a bargaining chip, as usual, as congressional Democrats and Republicans argue over where to allocate tax dollars.

Lawmakers still have not agreed on a 2018 budget and instead passed a short-term extension of last year’s spending plan in the waning hours of 2017.

That plan included an emergency $673.5 million for repairs on the USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain, which frustrated lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who want to see defense funding used for advancement rather than catch-up.